The University of Twente is the latest foreign partner university of the Münster University of Applied Sciences (Fachhochschule, FH). The Fachhochschule has previously worked mostly with German universities, but also with Polish and French institutes. The main aim of the collaboration with the UT is to offer excellent FH master students an opportunity to obtain a doctoral degree from - in this case - a Dutch university. The FH sees this as a professional addition to its education programme.
On 19 March, renewed acquaintance took place between the Executive Board of the Fachhochschule Münster (Prof.dr.ing. Richard Korff, Vizepräsident für Lehre, Forschung und Weiterbildung and Carsten Schröder, Vizepräsident für Transfer und Partnerschaften) and the UT. During this meeting, the parties signed an MOU (Memorandum of Understanding). This particularly concerns the joint supervision and assistance for FH students to enable them to obtain a doctoral degree at the UT. The immediate reason is the need of the FH to offer their excellent master of science students the opportunity to obtain a doctoral degree. "This collaboration is beneficial for the UT because it offers an opening towards the large SME network in Germany. We, as the UT, may be able to take advantage of this," says Victor van der Chijs.
Fachhochschule (FH)
The FH dates from 1971 and has since become one of the most successful and largest (11,000 students) Hochschulen in Germany. The system of 'fachhochschulen' is not directly comparable with 'hogescholen' in the Netherlands. The FH offers three-year bachelor's programmes and, unlike Dutch 'hogescholen', has been offering two-year master's programmes for some time. FH Munster is more active in research than other German and also Dutch 'hogescholen'. The subjects range from mechanical engineering, civil engineering, physics and chemistry to business administration and social sciences. In addition, the FH has a Graduierten Kolleg that houses FH PhD students. The quality criteria of the Kolleg correspond to the principles of the Twente Graduate School (TGS), such as: compulsory education part, a four-year programme, qualifier, supervision, etc.
More information
If you would like to know more about this partnership or other agreements and initiatives concerning internationalization, please contact Sander Lotze, UT Head of Internationalization 053-489 5679. Contact for the press: Janneke van den Elshout, academic communication consultant.
